User Notes
Nov 08, 2012
Hello,
Is there a way to have users take notes through the player while they're doing their training? I see a notes tab, but it appears that it's not interactive. The goal is for someone that runs into trouble, or has a question to be able to just type it in somewhere and have it logged to that particular slide.
Anyway to do this?
Thanks!
31 Replies
Could you do this by setting the user notes as a variable?
Hi Jade, I don't think you can assess the notes using a variable. It would be nice if you could.
One way you could achieve this is to create a slide that has a text data entry field on it that would allow users to enter text.
Then add a new tab to the player that launches the slide as a lightbox when clicked.
Hi Nancy, can you clarify how to do this? I'm trying to create a text entry box where users can write themselves notes that show up on each page. But when I add a text box to a new slide, it defaults back to not have their past notes.
Hi Spencer, I am not 100 percent clear on what you are trying to do.
I've attached a story file showing what I was thinking for this. In this example (which is very rough) I created a custom tab in the player settings which I called user notes and then added a trigger to the tab which opens a slide containing a text field in a lightbox.
Users can access the notes from any slide in the course by clicking on the User Notes tab. Any notes the user enters in the text box on that slide will be retained.
Hi Nancy,
Sorry for not being more specific. I've attached an image of what I need. Inside the slide, on the right, we would like to have a permanent text entry window where users can input their own notes across all slides. Is this possible?
-Spence
Hello Spencer,
I'm still trying to figure out what you want to do. Anyways see attached project. It's not pretty but is that similar to what you want to happen?
Hope this helps,
Donna
Ah I see, try adding the text box to the slide master instead of the individual slides. The text box will appear on any slide that uses the layout and should retain any text the user inputs across the slides.
This is EXACTLY what I'm trying to do Donna. How do you do this?
Okay, that sounds simple. How do I do that, Nancy?
I've already built the antire course. We just need to add the user notes section into each slide.
Very nice solution Donna, I was going for something that didn't require setting up variables.
Yes, what Donna did is exactly what I need to figure out how to do. Or what you proposed with the master slide, which I don't know how to do. Sorry for being such a dufus.
Hello Spencer,
1. Just like what Nancy said, you can start by accessing the Slide Master. In the Slide Master, you can create the Text Box or "Notes Content Holder" so that you don't have to paste it over and over again on each of the individual slides.
2. Once you have done this, create your "text entry variables". In the sample that I posted, I renamed them to Notes1, Notes2, etc.. so you know which slide its from.
3. Insert your Data Entry in the individual slides - most likely on the "Notes Content Holder".
4. Set each text entry to equal the variables you have created.
5. Once you're done, you should be able to go back to the slide master and input the (e.g. %Notes1%, %Notes2%) references there.
***This may require a lot of formatting because you don't know how much notes they will be typing on there***
Does it make sense?
It's kind of tough to explain via typing! LOL
Hope this helps.
Donna
Hi Spencer, you would do this by clicking View on the Storyline toolbar and then select Slide Master.
Then add the text box to the slide layout you are using for the course (most likely the blank one) - place it exactly where you want it to appear on your slides.
If you do this you will have to remove the text boxes that you have already added to the individual slides in your course.
Thank you Nancy. I'll give it a try. Standby!
Spencer, if you are familiar with slide masters in PowerPoint, they work basiaclly the same way in Storyline. Anything you place on a slide master will appear on all the slides in your course - If you are using a background image for, example, you could place it on the slide master instead of placing it on every single slide.
Thank you Nancy! That worked. Much appreciation!
Great! Glad to be of help.
Serendipity! I answered Spencer's other post a short while ago, with a similar solution. It occurs to me that you ma want to save the real estate of having the box on your base layer, and instead put it on a slide-out layer that shows or hides via triggers. A bit more coding, but more room for interactions.
Cheers,
Carlos
Thank you very much, Carlos!
Carlos, you are right that is the best way to go. Another option that might work if you want more real estate is make the entire presentation wider by changing the story size settings that are found under Design.
You could then move the text box over leaving you more space for the content.
It is best to change the size prior to adding content though because resizing after the fact can cause funny scaling results.
If you want to do this to an existing file, make a copy of your file first just in case you have to revert back to the original.
Glad to be of help! It actually gave me a chance to do this; I'd been meaning to mess with it for a long time, so, thanks to you, too!
Hi,
I was reading through this thread, and Carlos, I really love the solution you came up with: other post
I added a scrolling panel. It needs some work still. Here's why I did it:
I wondered what would happen if I typed "too much text" into the box. On the slide where you type, a scroll box appears, but, it disappears after you're done typing. So, it's not available on next slides. You CAN use arrow keys to move up and down in the box, but I thought I scrolling panel would be a bit easier.
It DOES work well when you do next/previous after typing, but it's a bit kludgy (I'm using Bruce's work - thanks Bruce) as your typing because you need to click in the box, deselect the text, and use the scroll arrows as necessary. Can anyone come up with a way to avoids that messiness? Otherwise, I think it's a good solution.
I think i understand all of this - however, how does the user then download the data from their notes to a usable format outside of the learning environment? Great idea to let them take notes, but unless I am missing something, it only exists in the learning tool.
Hi Rusty, yeah, it's just so they can do well on the quizes. But if I wanted to allow them to download their notes other than copy/paste, How would I go about it?
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